New Delhi: Delhi govt is likely to present its 2026-27 annual budget in the third week of March, officials told TOI on Saturday. Weeks before the tentative schedule, preparations for the annual financial exercise gathered pace. CM Rekha Gupta will hold a series of meetings with senior officials from the finance and planning departments starting Monday to finalise allocations and sectoral priorities. “The discussions to shape the budget roadmap for the next financial year are going to begin next week,” said an official. Govt officials said the focus of the budget is expected to be on capital projects and road and water infrastructure expansion, healthcare, education, transport, pollution-fighting measures, and welfare services. The BJP govt, which came to power last year, just completed one year in office. In 2025-26, the govt presented a budget with an outlay of Rs 1 lakh crore — a record allocation at the time — with emphasis on health, education, transport infrastructure, and social welfare schemes. “The total outlay for 2026-27 is likely to register a moderate increase over the Rs 1 lakh crore allocation of 2025-26, in line with the historical trend of incremental year-on-year increases in budget size across most govts. Such growth usually takes place due to a combination of higher projected tax and non-tax revenues and enhanced capital expenditure towards infrastructure and ongoing development schemes, while maintaining overall fiscal discipline,” said an official, adding that the actual size will be known only after the budget is presented. Consultations with departments started early this year to assess fund utilisation in the current financial year and to identify priority sectors for enhanced allocation. The budget session of the Delhi Assembly is expected to be convened in March. The budget session is usually the first session of the year, but the upcoming session will be the 2nd Assembly session of 2026 because the winter session of the Assembly was held in Jan.
